


Attention

by HowDidIEndUpHere



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Alec's sassy internal monologue, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Bad Parent Maryse Lightwood, Bisexual Jace Wayland, Bottom Jace Wayland, Breaking Up & Making Up, Breakup, Coming Out, Frottage, Fuck Canon, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots figuring out relationships, Idiots in Love, Jace being bad at communication, Jace cooking, Jace has PTSD, Jealousy, M/M, Oral Sex, Panic Attacks, Pansexual Isabelle Lightwood, Polyamory, Smut, That's canon right? Right, Threesome - M/M/M, Top Magnus Bane
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-31
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 00:18:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11955750
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HowDidIEndUpHere/pseuds/HowDidIEndUpHere
Summary: The breakup starts with Magnus. Well, no, it doesn’t. The breakup starts when Alec finally says the words “I’m gay,” and Jace says “Okay?” and Alec looks at Magnus, out and proud, and happy, and he knows that he wants that. He wants to be able to hold hands, and kiss, and have sex without worrying about leaving hickeys where they might be seen.Or: Alec wants a public relationship. He can't do that with Jace, so they break up, not very cleanly. Magnus steps in, and then Jace gets jealous.





	1. Breaking Up and New Relationships

**Author's Note:**

> I did not intend on writing fanfiction at any point in time this year. I haven't even watched the show, but they're all really pretty, and I'm always a fan of fixing love triangles with triads. It gives me joy. So, oops. This happened. I don't actually regret any of it. Kind of sorry for the present tense? I don't know why my brain did that.  
> It's inspired by an odd combination of Takara_Phoenix's Jace/Alec/Magnus works, and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8yqinSrphk video, especially That Look at 00:47-00:49.  
> I own nothing, none of it is mine, the only thing that is mine is this specific brand of probably OOC.

The breakup starts with Magnus. Well, no, it doesn’t. The breakup starts when Alec finally says the words “I’m gay,” and Jace says “Okay?” and Alec looks at Magnus, out and proud, and _happy_ , and he knows that he wants that. He wants to be able to hold hands, and kiss, and have sex without worrying about leaving hickeys where they might be seen.

But he wants that with Jace. But… he can’t have that. And he loves Jace. He wants that to be enough. Instead, he watches Jace flirt across the bar, not even entirely on purpose, and he wants to walk up and wrap an arm around Jace’s waist, draw him into a kiss. He tries to explain it later that night, and Jace brushes him off with “You know we can’t, Alec.”

Then Clary. Then Clary flirting with Jace. And Jace doesn’t tell her no—of course he doesn’t. He can’t say he has a lover. He doesn’t exactly discourage her, either, though. And then they’re fighting, and every ounce that Alec loves Jace, every ounce that they are partners, will always be soulmates, he can’t do this anymore.

_Then_ they break up.

Then they stop fighting, and Jace expects everything to go back to back to normal, and Alec has to say no. He can practically taste the betrayal that Jace feels, then, and he tries to explain, tries to make it better, tries to get them back on the same page, but Jace just keeps bringing up the same arguments he did when they first fell into bed together—but I love you, but we can’t help who we love, but Fuck The Clave. And he doesn’t listen. Every time Alec tries to say _love isn’t enough_ , Jace tries to push back with _but I love you_.

They don’t try to talk after that.

Jace goes out to beat something up or get drunk. Both things feel like self-destructive fury through the parabatai bond. Alec lays facedown on his bed (the bed, their bed) and that’s how Izzy finds him. Facedown. Two hours later.

She leans against his desk, he can see out of the corner of his eye that isn’t buried in the covers. She looks like she disapproves. Of what, he can’t tell. His life choices. His life.

“I can hear Jace with some girl in his room,” She says. He can hear them now, too. Thanks for pointing that out. He grunts into the covers. She narrows her eyes at him. “Is this some sort of self-sacrificing for his needs thing? Because that’s bullshit.”

He pulls himself out of the bed enough to give her a confused stare. “What? No. We-“ He hesitates. “It was never going to end well.” He tries to say it with finality. She can probably hear the way his voice wants to shake.

Her eyebrows shoot up, and she actually seems shocked. “What?”

He lowers his voice, checks that the door is closed. “It didn’t work. I ended things.”

She blinks. “You two broke up?” She seems awfully stuck on that.

He sits up, and his back complains from laying like that for so long. “It wasn’t working, Izzy. It was never going to work, we should have known that-“

“You two are perfect together. You _love_ him, Alec-“

“And that’s not enough.” That shuts her mouth with a click. “It was never going to be enough. We can’t be seemingly indefinitely celibate. We can’t hide it forever.” She gives him a knowing look at that, and he looks down at his hands, fisted without him realizing it. “I can’t hide it forever. I can’t…”

She lets him trail off. Lets him try to put his words together for a moment. “You were always the one who wanted the white picket fence.”

“A what?”

She finally rolls her eyes, lets out some of her actual irritation. It feels like acceptance of what’s happened. It feels like someone, at least, can deal with this. “You want domesticity, Alec.” _Jace doesn’t_ is left unspoken.

Alec lays back on the bed, face first. Izzy sighs, and hesitates. She rests a hand on his back, sympathy and regret finally coming through in that touch. He allows it, and she leaves it there for a moment, before quietly walking away and out of the room, closing the door behind her with the slightest click.

Jace’s one night stand moans in the other room.

Alec gets up, and heads straight for the training rooms. He’s still wearing mission clothes, but It’s good enough. He strips out of his shirt, and wraps his hands, and then he attempts to murder the punching bag. It doesn’t really make him feel better, but it keeps him from punching anyone else.

…

_That’s_ when Magnus comes in, with a flirtatious smile and an offer of a date, and Alec wants to say yes. Angel, Magnus is pretty. It seems Alec has a type. But more importantly, Magnus is not in the closet, and Alec wants that. Wants that kind of bravery.

But he doesn’t get what he wants. He should know by now. So he proposes to Lydia, and things go downhill from there. It definitely feels like rock bottom when he punches Jace in the face and puts a blade to his throat. And Jace says those words “You know what this is about, Alec-!” And then Alec stops regretting punching him in the face.

He still regrets the blade. He regrets it as soon as he draws it, and he regrets it more as he stares into Jace’s desperate eyes, and he wants to be able to talk to him. He wants Jace to understand everything, wants Jace to _get it_. He sits on the ground, and avoids meeting Jace’s eyes.

“Come with me, Alec, _Parabatai-“_

_“_ No.”

Jace walks away.

…

He was wrong. That was not the worst it could get, definitely not. Izzy’s trial comes up, Lydia on the other side of it, and Magnus looks at him with those burning, kohl-lined eyes—And Alec _wants_. But then Lydia withdraws the charges, and Alec thinks he could stand to love her, even if it’s not romantic. He can have his picket fence, and kids, and neither of them are expecting passion. It’s fine. But Magnus presses his bow back into his hands, their fingers brush, and Magnus says “Neither of you deserve that.”

He could have his white picket fence. He and Jace could probably fall back into their affair behind closed doors. He could have the best of both worlds, but that’s still not what he wants. It’s not good enough. It’s not enough. Magnus tilts his chin up, and Alec leans down, and it’s barely the slightest brush. It’s more chaste than any kiss he’s ever had. Magnus’s eyes flutter closed, and he tries to follow after Alec’s lips when he pulls back.

…

He’s got hickeys on his neck when he comes back. Fuck it. Jace stutter-halts when they cross paths, drinking in Alec’s face greedily.

“Izzy lectured me,” He says, blunt and hesitant at the same time. “She said she approves of Lydia, that I should talk it out with you—If this is what you’ve decided you want, it’s not my job to try to protect you from yourself. Just…” His eyes drop, and they drag against Alec’s neck. He can see the gears turning. “Wh-“

“I’m calling off the wedding.” Jace steps in closer, something like hope in his eyes, but Alec shakes his head. He checks around them, a habit by now, and lowers his voice. “I’m still not going to be your dirty little secret.”

Jace shuts down. “We can’t, Alec-“

“You’re right. We can’t.” Silence. “Magnus is taking me out on a date on Saturday.” And he can watch the breath catch in Jace’s throat, he can feel Jace’s heart squeezing. “I’m sorry.” He apologizes, more for the hurt than his choices. It was never going to work.

He’s the one who walks away, this time.

…

 

When he tells Lydia he’s calling off the wedding, she tilts her head in that scarily observant way, and she nods. “I had wondered.”

“I’m gay.” It’s the first time he’s said those words to someone who didn’t already know. It feels like freedom. It feels like he might be cursing himself, but fuck it. Magnus can probably lift any curse he can find.

She smiles, that same fond and formal way. “That is what I had wondered, yes.” Izzy has perked up in the background, too interested in his love life, still. Although, the way her eyes settle on Lydia… “I’m not going to hate you for who you love, Alec.”

He ducks his sheepish smile, intensely grateful that Lydia is still as amazing as she had been from the start. “I’m so sorry for leading you on like this, dragging out the wedding planning-“

“It’s better than leaving me at the altar,” She tries to laugh it off, but she glances over to the dress, which is hanging on her wardrobe in its bag. She almost looks regretful.

Alec can’t find the words to say, but Izzy sidles up. “I mean, it would be a shame to waste such a perfect dress…” She trails off, and looks Lydia up and down. That is the most blatantly he has ever seen Izzy check someone out, but Lydia just looks confused.

“What?”

“Well,” Izzy shrugs. “Everything’s already ordered. The dress is nearly done, I was the one who picked out the flowers. The wedding itself is perfect. And you didn’t seem to mind an arranged marriage to a Lightwood-“

“ _Oh_!” That’s the first time he’s ever seen Lydia _blush_. Well.

…

Izzy looks beautiful when she tries on the rush-order dress, and Lydia is the closest to being in a tizzy that Alec has seen so far. They’re both blushing more than usual, stuttering and tripping over their words, except for anytime anyone tries to politely bring up the fact that _you’re both women_.

“I wasn’t aware that the marriage rune couldn’t be placed on a woman,” Lydia says perfectly politely, eyebrows raised. She glances down at her forearm, where there’s one marriage rune scarred over already. The other person usually stutters their way out of the conversation at that point.

“You won’t be able to have children,” Maryse points out, much less politely. She staring down both her daughter and Lydia, and Izzy is starting to wilt under it, but Lydia grins like a shark.

“I wasn’t aware that either of our fertility was your problem, but yes, I’m infertile.” And, okay. Alec didn’t completely disapprove before, but this match is growing on him.

Izzy tilts her head thoughtfully, leaning into Lydia’s side, and Lydia runs a gentle hand over her shoulder. “Do you want kids, though?”

Lydia blinks down at her, and seamlessly manages to shut Maryse out of the conversation by angling their bodies away. They speak quietly, and Maryse turns to him as though to ask w _hat have you done?_ He shrugs. It might be better not to mention his date with Magnus, yet.

…

The date isn’t until saturday, but Alec slips away from everything that night and kisses Magnus slow and deep in the doorway. Magnus tries another cocktail on him, and laughs when Alec makes another face, and it feels good. It feels like it might be all right.

Chairman Meow settles in Alec’s lap, tiny and cute, and Magnus settles into his side, and they talk for hours before Alec gets pulled out the door again by a phone call from a drunk Izzy demanding to know where he is. Her (loud) Bachelorette party is not, apparently, complete without him. He should probably keep her from getting too drunk, or she’ll have a terrible hangover on her wedding day.

He leaves with a smile, and is still smiling when he finds Izzy rambling about Lydia’s virtues to a drunkenly nodding Clary. The other members of her bachelorette party are clustered around the table, but Izzy is his main concern, so he wraps his arm around her waist and smiles fondly as she leans her weight on him and looks up with those sincere eyes.

“She’s just, like, really gorgeous?”

He snorts, and nods along, aiming for the exit. He nearly stumbles over his own feet when he sees who's in the corner.

Jace. Jace pinned up against a wall—by a guy. The guy is bent over Jace, sucking on his neck, and Jace has his arms wrapped around his shoulders. Jace’s eyes catch Alec’s, and go heavy lidded, with either satisfaction or lust. Probably lust, given the way the guy is trying to hump Jace like a dog on a chair leg.

Realization settles over Alec, just a little like anger. Jace is poking at an open wound, and it’s not appreciated. Alec may have broken up with him, but it still _hurts_. He _misses_ Jace.

Jace throws his head back in a near-audible moan. For fuck's sake.

Alec carries Izzy out of the club, and she giggles the entire time, babbling about Lydia’s hair. Someone’s getting their fairytale, at least.


	2. Well, that's interesting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jace retreats, Magnus meddles, and Alec catches on eventually. Then Jace retreats a little faster. It might look more like running.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no self-restraint, and I need to be editing thiiiings. But no. Instead, I have a third chapter planned. Rating may go up, if you can't tell by the end of this one.

Despite their problems, and Jace’s increasing tendency towards avoiding conversation, things are actually going fairly well until the end of the wedding. Then Lydia gets knocked over the head, and the cup disappears, and then Jace disappears into the portal after Valentine. More or less that quickly.

Alec wants to punch something. Instead, he focuses all his energy into finding his Parabatai. He’s forced into taking a break only once, and so finds himself in Magnus’s loft only once. Magnus doesn’t demand anything from him, not even more time. They simply spread out on the couch in silence, and Magnus holds him until he slips into a doze.

He’s back at work only a few hours later, but it helps.

They finally get Jace back (and then they actually get Jace back), but Jace is bruise-tender and unwilling to talk to anyone, even as he shows up with his shoulders near his ears on Magnus’s doorstep. He stops giving Alec those looks—a little bit challenging, a little bit flirtation—instead he looks up at Magnus through his eyelashes, and skips his eyes over Alec almost completely.

Alec feels left bereft. He tries to talk to Jace. He tries to connect over breakfast and in the mornings and late at night, when he finally gets back, but Jace just looks uncomfortable and edges out of anything Alec asks him, or shrugs it off with “I’m fine.” Alec wants to beat him into talking about things.

Instead, Magnus pulls Alec onto the couch, and they make out lazily while Jace bangs around in the kitchen. Magnus gives him the idea somewhere in there--"I set up one of the spare rooms as a training room. If Jace doesn’t want to talk, don’t force him. Spend the morning sparring.”

That might actually work.

The next morning, when Alec would normally be up bright and early for a run, he instead wakes up Jace by throwing his work-out clothes at his head. Jace could probably use the sleep, but they could use this more.

They start off a little hesitant, but then Alec tags him with a practice blade, and Jace gets this sharp look in his eyes, and Jace throws himself into taking Alec to the floor as many times as possible. It hurts like a bitch, and his ego is slightly dented by the seventh round, but Jace is grinning happily as he wrenches Alec’s limbs around. Alec taps out again, and Magnus appears in the doorway, watching them fondly.

“If you two are done with your playfighting, breakfast is nearly ready.”

 Jace even grins at Magnus—that’s never happened before—and bounds up and out of the room “Last one showered sets the table!” And he’s gone.

Magnus smiles down at Alec, fond and flirtatious, as Alec starfishes on the floor, completely giving up. “I take it that went well," He comments, already knowing the answer.

“Very.”

Magnus peers down the hallway, and slowly says. “I hadn’t realized there was… history.” Alec freezes. Then he forcibly thaws his own limbs.

“And it’s history.” He gets to his feet smoothly, albeit with a slight wince at a new bruise, and ducks to press a reassuring kiss to Magnus’s lips.

Magnus smiles into the kiss without hesitation. “I’m aware-“

“You aren’t a rebound, or a substitute. I chose you-“

Magnus brings his finger up, hovers it over Alec’s mouth. “I’m perfectly aware of how you feel about me, Alexander.” Alec’s just glad his blush doesn’t show through the flush already on his face from the exercise. “I’m simply stating a fact. I hadn’t been aware before today that you two were ever together.”

Alec ducks his head down, and kisses that finger, and Magnus tries to bite down on the smile that overtakes his face. “It was easy to hide in the bond,” He says, voice low. “No one really suspected.”

Magnus’s expression gets contemplative, although something mischievous leaks through in his eyes. “I suppose I can see the appeal,” He says, and sashays away in that swishy silk robe. Alec’s eyes follow the edge of it, until he realizes what Magnus just said.

“Wait, what?”

…

After that, Jace seems to mostly go back to his old self, which means flirting with everything on two legs. This includes Alec, which Alec is less excited about, although only Magnus seemed to catch on to the feeling behind the looks.

Baked goods still show up in the kitchen in the mornings, but Jace doesn’t talk about it, and now Alec doesn’t ask. Jace still freezes when certain topics come up, and Alec can still feel the panic that he shoves down now and then, but he seems to be doing better.

Of course, when he starts flirting nigh-aggressively with _Magnus_ , it gets a little concerning, but Magnus just rolls his eyes at it, and it gets to the point of ridiculousness. Real ridiculousness, because Magnus at that point starts trying to make Jace uncomfortable with it, but Jace can give as good as he gets. Magnus turns into “Snuggle-bear,” and Jace is “Honey-boo,” and they’re shooting faux-intense looks across the table. Every so often they aren’t faux, but only when Alec is around for Magnus to whisper in his ear about how Jace might look in their bed. Alec turns bright red, and everyone laughs, assuming correctly that Magnus is dirty talking in the middle of the bar.

Alec feels the need to reassure Magnus again that night, after two rounds of sex. “I’m one hundred percent in this relationship, Mag.” And Magnus leans in to nuzzle at Alec’s cheek.

“I know that you would never cheat on me, Alec,” He says. Alec relaxes. “He just happens to have an ass that would look good on someone’s dick.”

Alec groans, and digs his fingers into Magnus’s hips to pull him closer, and Magnus laughs happy and bright. He sobers quickly, and covers Alec’s hands with his own. “Of course, if you’re not comfortable with me saying things like that-“ Alec shakes his head, and tucks it into Magnus’s neck to scrape his teeth across the skin. Magnus’s words dissolve into a moan, and they stop talking about it.

…

Once or twice, in the middle of the night, Alec lingers at the door of the living room. Jace sits at the piano, facing away, fingers barely pressing the keys down. The melody is so soft and quiet that Alec wonders if he’s even hearing it, but when he goes back to bed and presses his cold feet to Magnus’s calves Magnus mumbles “It’s beautiful.”

They leave it at that, and they don’t interrupt Jace when he gets like that. It feels sacred.

…

Alec doesn’t manage to find much time with Magnus or Jace after that, until they all collapse after the invasion of the institute. Jace locks himself in the room, dry-eyed but shaking, and Magnus soothes Alec’s worries until Alec concedes to try to sleep.

They’re both woken in the middle of the night by an aborted scream.

It’s Alec that opens the locking rune of Jace’s door, but Magnus is the one who wakes Jace and holds him while Alec sits by feeling helpless, because his Parabatai keeps shying away from his touch. Magnus eventually calms him enough to get Jace to say, in his half-asleep, exhausted state, “You should hate me. I could’ve killed Magnus.” Alec runs a careful, gentle hand through Jace’s hair, and pulls him into a hug that he melts into.

“I could never hate you,” Alec whispers, and Jace doesn’t quite accept it, but he turns his head towards Alec’s, and eventually he falls asleep. Magnus falls asleep on the bed, and Alec falls asleep on the floor holding Jace’s hand, and Jace wakes up before them both.

Breakfast is ready first thing in the morning, which Magnus and Alec stumble to with sore backs. Jace won’t quite look either of them in the eye, even when Magnus reels him in and kisses his forehead, almost hesitant about the genuine affection.

Alec suspects Jace puts up a soundless rune the next night.

…

Jace seems to have caught onto what’s going on between them after that, even if Magnus and Alec aren’t sure what that is. Jace avoids being around the loft when he knows they’ll be there, though, and he’s largely substituted sparring with Clary and Simon for sparring with Alec. Most nights he ends up down at the Hunter’s Moon, and the one time Alec personally went there to track him down for a mission, he found Jace and Maia in the back alley.

He wished he could scrub his eyes out after that. Although, he’s still not entirely sure whether that’s because Maia had her shirt mostly off, or because Jace had his pants slung just below his ass.

They framed it very nicely.

It’s Magnus who finally corners Jace, and cheerfully suggests that he and Alec spar while Alec has a free hour. He personally clears both their schedules for it, and counters every argument Jace can find in the time it takes for Magnus to drag him down to the training room. Alec is already there, resigned and amused by Magnus’s insistence.

“I think Magnus is worried I’m getting rusty,” Alec quips, but Jace doesn’t take the gaping opening and agree with him. He just picks out his swords, and nods at Alec’s own choice.

Magnus hovers near the doorway with raised eyebrows, and Jace carefully keeps his eyes on Alec. That’s odd.

They spar without most of their usual insults until Jace relaxes into it, and wins the third round with an easy, flirty smirk. The fourth and fifth go much the same, until Jace’s eyes catch on Magnus still at the edge of the room, and he fumbles a basic block. Alec hits him in the side, doesn’t even bother to pull it because that was a stupid mistake—but then he catches sight of Magnus, too, and Magnus flashes a grin at them that turns the tips of Jace’s ears red. Oh. _Oh._

And Magnus has figured it out, too, by the look on his face.

“I’m about done-“ Jace tries to say, looking for the clock and putting away his swords all at once, but Alec shakes his head.

“I wanted to ask you to spar with Magnus, actually.”

Jace hesitates, glances back at Magnus. And fidgets with the sword on the rack. “We should get back to work-“

Alec edges in, and dips his shoulders in that way he knows draws Jace towards him. “I spar with him, sometimes, but he needs more than one sparring partner. I worry he’ll get too used to my height.”

He lets Magnus walk up, lets Jace think about it, and lets that edge of concern for Magnus creep into their bond. It’s probably a terrible thing to do. Oh well.

Magnus smiles genuinely at Jace, and Jace succumbs. Magnus has already, magically, changed into sweats, and he can see Jace’s eyes trail down Magnus’s torso, before Jace tears them back up. Jace almost hesitates, but leads Magnus onto the mats.

Alec steps just far enough away that he’s out of their way, and settles in to watch.

“Ready?” Jace asks. Magnus grins in answer, and Jace doesn’t quite move fast enough when Magnus darts towards him. They go to the ground in under five seconds, and then Magnus makes his way on top. He’s probably aided by Jace being ever-so-slightly stunned, but Magnus has had three hundred years to learn how to fight.

Jace actually gets into the fight then, but Magnus is better than he looks, and gets in more than a couple hits. They’re nearly even when Magnus gets on top, and Jace locks his legs around Magnus’s waist—then realizes what he’s done. Magnus’s smile is downright filthy, until Jace wipes it off his face by throwing him to the ground and twisting his arm painfully. Magnus wheezes, and taps out.

Jace flees from the room, and Alec walk over to Magnus. Magnus grins up at him, goofily. “Are you happy, now?”

Magnus’s grin widens. “Oh, definitely. Your Parabatai is full of surprises, Alexander.” Magnus’s eyes are heated, and when Alec helps him up he melts into Alec’s chest, fingers toying with the hem of his shirt. “I wouldn’t mind some help with this, though,” He says low into Alec’s neck, and rolls his hips.

They definitely fuck in the showers. The first time Alec makes Magnus moan, he can feel Jace’s curiosity through the bond. Then realization. Then Jace shuts him out, but they can both hear someone fumble their shampoo container on the other side of the room, and muffled curses.

Magnus bites at Alec’s lip with a feral smile.


	3. Jace walks willingly into the trap

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Magnus and Alec lure Jace in with food, and everyone talks about feelings. Then there's less talking, and more kissing. And some grinding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT IS DONE. This one, anyways. The porn just kind of slipped in, so no one can blame me for anything. TW for food! It's only a couple hundred words, but still.

“Do you think this is a good idea?” Alec asks.

Magnus raises his eyebrows at Alec’s hesitation. “Do you not want to?”

He has to think about it. Go over the variables again, plan out every contingency. He almost hesitates to say “I want to…”

Magnus smiles reassuringly. “It’ll take communication. Talking to each other—not just talking at each other, or over each other. Asking for clarification, asking for help, double checking that everyone understands everything.” He manages to hide most of a smile. “You’ll have to talk about your emotions.”

Alec leans in and tucks their heads together, breathes in Magnus’s cologne. “I know. I want it.”

“Jace may not,” Magnus warns.

The breath almost catches in Alec’s throat. He nods silently.

“He may say no right away, he might back out in a year, five, ten.”

“Yeah,” Alec says hoarsely. Both understanding, and acceptance.

Magnus backs up to look him in the eye, and smiles slightly. The light of a challenge hovers in his eyes. “Well, alright then.” He pecks Alec on the lips, and pulls away with a twist of his hips. Those hips swing side to side as he walks away, heels clicking on his hardwood floors.

Classical piano drifts through the loft—it’s almost out of place, in the middle of the afternoon. The melody is less wistful than it usually is, though. It has an undercurrent of sensuality to it. He follows silently, and watches from just outside the room while Magnus walks up behind Jace. He rests his hands on Jace’s shoulders, first, and Jace smiles up at him without missing a beat. Then Magnus skims those hands down Jace’s back, and settle on Jace’s waist. Jace does miss a beat, at that, and stops altogether when Magnus leans down and places his mouth next to Jace’s ear.

In the lack of piano, he can hear Magnus’s praise. “Thank you, darling. It’s beautiful.”

Jace turns around to look at him, eyes wide, but Magnus is already walking away. He collects his jacket from the closet before waltzing out the door, off to brunch with Catarina. Jace looks at Alec, instead, in confusion, and Alec lets something a little more familiar creep into his smile. Something from a few months ago, before the breakup.

“Did he just compliment me?”

Alec shrugs. “It _was_ beautiful, Jace.” He walks past him on the way to the kitchen, only pausing to drag his hand over Jace’s shoulder. It’s barely more than their new casual gestures, only edging into a caress, but still Jace stares.

It takes until Alec starts unloading the dishwasher for Jace to start playing again. The same song, only a little earlier than where he left off, but it develops. A change here or there, the tempo turns nearly giddy.

…

It’s another two days of little things like that before Magnus and Alec manage to corner Jace over dinner. Alec times it perfectly so that Jace walks in the door as he’s pulling the tray from the oven, and Jace is, indeed, drawn into the kitchen by the scent.

“Are those rosemary roasted veggies?”

Alec tosses the oven mitts onto the counter and steps towards Jace, mostly blocking the view of the dinner. He picks up Jace’s hand, pressing his own warm fingers into Jace’s palm. “Yes,” He answers with a grin. “Go shower, dinner’s almost ready.”

Jace shoots him a sideways look, but obediently leaves the kitchen, dragging his hand from Alec’s slowly.

His bedroom door thumps shuts, and Magnus, perched on the counter, purrs into his wine glass “ _Well_.”

Alec plucks it from him, and takes a sip from it. “If you drink too much,” He murmurs. “You’ll be drunk before dinner.” He slots his lips against Magnus’s, teasingly shallow, and pulls away with the wine glass in hand.

Magnus pouts at him. “I’m hardly going to get drunk on a glass of wine, Alexander. I might reach _tipsy_ on the third.”

“Then you can set out plates,” Alec throws out, taking another sip off the glass and keeping eye contact over the rim. Magnus’s eyes darken, but he hops down and obediently sets the table, stretching out provocatively every chance he gets. It’s a nice view.

...

Jace hurries back to the table perfectly in time for Alec to finish plating everything. He slows to a stop in the doorway, taking everything in. “Is that gnocchi?”

Alec slides Jace’s plate onto the table, and Magnus hands him a glass of wine. Jace blinks down at it, and blinks again as Magnus ever-so-slightly taps their glasses together. He seems to take a sip on automatic.

“It is cheese gnocchi with sun-dried tomatoes,” Alec says. He straightens the plate, and sits down in his own seat as Magnus fetches him his own glass of wine. “And roasted vegetables and chicken.”

Jace looks nearly worshipful “You cooked?” And then suspicion crosses his features. “It’s not my birthday.”

Alec grins into his own glass, and Jace hesitantly sits down. The room dims to a soothing glow, leaving the setting sun seeping through the window as the primary light—likely Magnus’s handiwork—but Jace doesn’t notice.

“It’s not your birthday,” Alec confirms, happy to play this game for the moment.

“Did you ruin my clothing?”

Magnus rolls his eyes. “I would have fixed it.”

Jace squints at him, then back to Alec. “Did you lose one of my swords?”

“We just wanted to talk, Jace,” Alec says, and then Jace scoots back in his chair, tensing.

“I didn’t do anything.”

Magnus reaches over, and covers Jace’s hand with his own. “No, you didn’t, Jonathan.”

“I didn’t forget anything?”

Magnus finally rolls his eyes fondly. “No, Jonathan. We just want to talk.” He gestures to the food. “Eat, first, though. Before it gets cold.”

Jace hesitantly picks up his fork and takes a bite, and then his eyes slip closed with a moan. “Oh, by the angel—You made it from _scratch_.”

Alec smirks, but he can see Magnus pause at the noise. Alec starts eating, and Magnus takes his first bite, and then Magnus moans only barely quieter than Jace did. Jace is too distracted by the food to notice, but Magnus turns his nose up at Alec’s smirk and sticks another bite in his mouth.

It’s good to know he can still cook—and not just in comparison to Izzy.

Alec spends most of the dinner watching them eat, and clears away their dishes when they’re mostly done. Magnus is the one to ply Jace with a slice of double-chocolate cake from the bakery down the street, and Magnus and Alec each mosey through their own, not-so-surreptitiously watching Jace lick his fork clean. Jace face-plants on the table after that and groans happily.

“Okay, that was amazing, but I’ve gotta know what I did to deserve that.”

Alec and Magnus check in with a quick brush of eyes, and Magnus reaches out to take Jace’s hand, teasing his thumb over the knuckles. Jace’s eyes widen, and he glances between the two of them, trying to figure out what’s going on.

“I—Well, we…” Magnus starts off, then hesitates.

“We wanted to ask you out on a date, Jace,” Alec finishes. Jace looks stunned, and pulls his hand out of Magnus’s, almost regretfully.

“Alec, you know we can’t.” He sounds so heartbroken, and Magnus catches his hand again. Jace lets him.

“Jonathan, Alexander and I have been dating for two months with no repercussions-“

Jace shuts him down with a look. “Yeah, no repercussions whatsoever.”

Alec shrugs easily. “There have been some insults. Not everyone is happy about it, obviously. But, Lydia and I have been talking—Izzy doesn’t want to lead the institute, and Lydia can’t do it alone. Lydia already changed her last name, she wants to keep it in the Lightwood family. She’s asked me to be co-head. I’m going to accept.”

Jace shook his head. “It’s not the same.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Magnus counters. “Alec will be head of the New York Institute. I am the High Warlock of Brooklyn. We can shield each other from anything.”

“Being gay isn’t a crime, Magnus.” Jace’s expression is near tears, even as he lets Magnus soothe him with the bare contact of their hands, and Alec’s emotions hush him through their bond. “Dating a Downworlder—or _being_ a Downworlder—aren’t crimes. Loving your Parabatai _is_ , though.”

Alec steps in, then. “We can still protect each other—hell, we have a network of people to protect us. The Clave is already hesitant to go against Magnus and I. We’ve been pushing them for better treatment of Downworlders, already, and getting results. We can show them that there’s no evidence that Parabatai bonds can corrupt, tell them we’ve been lovers, already, and it changed nothing.”

“Or,” Magnus proposes. “We don’t have to make it public, if you don’t want. You have every right to say no to that—You have every right to say no to all of this. We don’t want to pressure you.”

“We can also go right back to how things were before—We’ll be your friends, I’ll always be your Parabatai, and no one will be hurt by that. But we really like you, Jace. We want to take you out on a date, together, whether or not that’s in public.” Alec catches Jace’s eyes, pushes that wave of affection and love and contentment through the bond. Jace’s breath catches, but he still glances between them in hesitation.

“You-I… Both? You’re perfect together-“

Magnus brings Jace’s hand up to his mouth, and kisses the knuckles. “And we both like you. Even just for one date—You can call stop at any time, Jonathan.”

Jace shakes his head vehemently. “No, I don’t-“ Alec’s heart sank, and Jace’s eyes widened as he felt that. “I mean…” He lowers his eyes to the tabletop. “I don’t want just one date.”

Alec’s heart _soars._

Magnus chuckles. “Maybe we can still start with the first one. How does that sound?”

Jace ducks his head, and glances up at them through his eyelashes. “I’d say this was pretty amazing for a first date.” Magnus blushes right back.

“Would you consent to a second, then?” Alec asks, voice intimately low.

“I’d consent to pretty much anything.” Magnus’s hand tightens on Jace’s. “If you hadn’t noticed, I’m kind of in love with you two.”

Both Magnus and Alec freeze. “Oh?” Magnus manages to get out.

Jace angles his face away shyly. “I’d thought it was kind of obvious-“

Magnus stands from the table, takes two steps forward, and tilts Jace’s face up with a hand on his cheek to kiss him. Jace makes a sweet little stunned noise, and melts easily. The hot flare of arousal that comes through the bond, though, takes Alec’s breath away. As Magnus pulls himself from Jace’s lips Alec can’t resist taking his place, and Jace wraps his arms around Alec’s neck easily, standing up to be closer to his height. Magnus’s hands snake around Jace’s waist from behind, and he stretches up over Jace to bite at Alec’s jaw.

“Share, Alexander,” He scolds. Jace makes a broken noise, and tears himself from Alec’s kiss to tilt his head back on Magnus’s shoulder. His chest is heaving, and his eyes are heavy-lidded, and his lips are glossed from Alec’s tongue.

“Do I have to?” Alec teases as he kisses Magnus feather-light.

…

They probably shouldn’t take it to bed so quickly, but Magnus made one more dirty comment and Jace’s hips twitched up into Alec’s, and they both moaned into another kiss. Then Magnus left a hickey on Jace’s neck, and all sanity was given up as a hopeless cause from there on out.

It’s Magnus who presses Jace into the covers, both of them with their shirts off, although Magnus’s hangs stubbornly from his elbows. Alec strips out of his shirt and jeans, and watches Jace’s hands roam over Magnus’s back, fingers grasping at the musculature there. Magnus fits himself in between Jace’s thighs, both hands gripping his ass and rocking their hips together.

Alec crawls onto the bed as Jace throws his head back, and Jace finds him through hooded eyes, using one hand to reach out and pull him into a kiss. Alec goes willingly, licking into Jace’s mouth until he moans into it, and then Alec breaks it with a chuckle.

“What do you want, Jace?” Jace answers with a groan, biting his lip as Magnus slides down his body to kiss across his chest. Alec tilts Jace’s face up towards him. “Do you want to get fucked?”

“Yesss,” Jace hisses out, hands diving into Magnus’s hair as Magnus kisses a ring around his bellybutton, then bites at the Parabatai rune. Alec gasps at that, too, can feel the ghost of it on his own hip. Jace throws out one hand to latch onto Alec’s waist. “Oh, Angel, fuck me -“

He cuts off when Magnus starts in on unbuckling his pants, mouth hanging open on that last word. Alec kisses his open mouth, gets a lazy press of lips, and then pulls Magnus up and kisses his mouth open. Magnus smirks into it, and tugs Jace’s pants down sharply without looking.

“Getting a little antsy, there, Alexander?”

Alec bites at his lip, and murmurs “Can’t quite decide, do you want to fuck him, or should I?”

Magnus makes the slightest noise, and then glances down at Jace. “What do you think, baby?” He works Jace’s pants the rest of the way off, and the boxers go with them. “Who do you want to fuck you?”

Jace eyes Magnus’s crotch speculatively, but doesn’t answer for a moment as he catches his breath. “You, Mags. Wanted you to fuck me since we sparred.”

Alec grins, and leans in to suck lightly at Jace’s pulse point. “You’re gonna look so pretty spread out on his dick, Jace-“

Jace tenses up, and his eyes shoot down to where Magnus is spreading his cheeks, laid down between his thighs. His cheeks go crimson, ears and throat at the same time, and Magnus nips at his thigh.

“Do you want me to open you up on my tongue, Jace?” Jace’s breath shakes at the question. “Want me to eat you out, get you all ready for me-“

“Yes! Fuck, pleas-“ The rest of Jace’s words die off as his hips twitch down into Magnus’s mouth, little gasps making their way out of his slack lips.

Alec kisses the breath from his lungs, shallow and soft, murmuring dirty talk into him the entire time. “Do you like, that, Jace? Do you like how Magnus’s tongue feels on your hole? He loves eating people out, he wanted me to sit on his face for hours-“ On that one Jace’s eyes roll shut, and his hips grind down in a filthy roll, and Magnus comes up with a wicked grin on his slick face.

“As much as I would love to tongue-fuck you for hours, I want to get inside you more, darling.”

Alec reaches for the lube, which he throws at Magnus and Magnus catches, and he tears off a condom before Jace shakes his head.

“I… Got Izzy to test me a couple weeks ago,” He pants out. “I’ve been using condoms and dams, I’m clean.”

Alec searches his face, then glances down at Magnus, who nods. “Alright, if you want.” Jace beams up at him, before his smile is swallowed up when his face goes slack with pleasure.

Magnus is fucking Jace with two fingers, licking around them as he opens Jace up. Jace’s hips abruptly stutter, his abs clench, and he moans out a low “Fuck.”

Alec smirks, petting across Jace’s jumping abs. “He’s good at that, isn’t he?”

“So good,” Jace agrees mindlessly. Magnus chuckles, fucks another finger thoroughly into Jace, and then Alec watches, hypnotized as Magnus kicks off his heels and wiggles out of his skintight pants. He obviously couldn’t fit anything underneath them.

Jace reaches up for Alec, and he drops another kiss on Jace’s face before shucking his own boxers and scooping Jace into his lap. Jace laughs, and Magnus pouts at him.

“I thought you wanted to watch me fuck him?”

Alec kisses at Jace’s shoulder, and grins up at Magnus from there. “Oh, I’ll enjoy it.” He slides his hands down to the underside of Jace’s thighs, and pulls his legs open. Jace arches with the movement, rubbing perfectly back on Alec’s dick, and letting his head roll back onto Alec’s shoulder. Magnus moans at the sight of them, and then Jace tilts just enough to meet Alec in a lazy, open-mouthed kiss.

“Fuck, you two are gorgeous.” He crawls over them, and grinds his hips down into Jace’s, whose breath stutters in the kiss. Then he slides his cock across Jace’s hole, and Jace’s hips jerk down, trying to get him inside.

“Magnus-“ He whines, biting at his lip. Magnus braces, and reaches one hand down to help fit himself inside, and Jace’s breath catches. Alec lets go of one of Jace’s thighs to spread that hand up and down his chest, thumbing at his nipples every time he passes.

Jace reaches up to pull Magnus into a kiss, and their tongue pass lazily as Magnus eases in and pulls out—first just the tip, then halfway, then he sinks his dick in to the hilt, and he grinds it there until he finds the perfect angle that has Jace gasping and twitching.

Then he starts fucking him properly.

Every thrust makes Jace arch into the movement, which pushes him back against Alec’s cock. Alec pants into Jace’s neck, clenching at his thighs, and Magnus chuckles when he manages to make Jace shout with one particularly clever roll of his hips.

“Do that again do that again do that again-“ Jace chants until Magnus repeats the motion—And Alec knows from experience that it’s dragging perfectly over Jace’s prostate. Jace tries to fuck himself on Magnus’s cock, then, and they devolve into a rhythmic push and pull until Jace’s thrusts start getting weak, and Alec gets a hand on Jace’s dick.

Jace arches into each pull until he comes over Alec's hand with a cry, and Magnus moans through Jace’s orgasm until his hips stutter and he ends with a dirty grind. He pulls out, panting, and they both carefully arrange Jace on the covers, and he watches through lidded eyes as Magnus presses Alec back down onto the bed.

It’s Alec’s body, then, that Magnus crawls down, and it’s Alec dick that he laps at. Jace manages to roll close enough that he can make out lazily with Alec, even as Alec comes with a whine when Magnus closes his mouth over the head.

Jace smiles at them as Magnus crawls back up, and they take turns kissing Alec breathless until Jace falls asleep, draped over Alec’s side. Magnus mirrors him on the other, and they both watch as Jace blows little puffs of air across Alec’s neck, face gone slack with sleep. Magnus kisses him lightly, and Jace scrunches up his nose, burying it into Alec’s chest to make it stop itching. Magnus brushes a kiss across his cheek, then, and Jace’s face smooths out into sweet calm.

“Love you,” Magnus whispers, barely brushing his lips over Alec’s. Alec pulls him back into the kiss properly, and they stay there a minute or two before Alec answers

“Love you, too, Mag.”


End file.
